Young voters can save the planet

For America’s young voters, famished for positive action on climate change, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 is cause for celebration. The passage of this landmark legislation, just signed into law by President Biden, is a signal to young climate activists across the country that unprecedented progressive change is possible. For the millions of young Americans who flocked to the polls in 2020, many for the first time, it’s a bracing reinforcement that their votes — and their ongoing political engagement for a healthy planet and healthy communities — can make a critical difference.

As president of Nextgen America, the largest youth voter organization in the country, I know this victory could not have come at a better time. As we approach the midterms, young voters have been searching for reasons to believe in the process and to urge their peers to the polls.

We’re proud that in Nevada, where young voters turned out in record numbers in 2020, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen helped create the winning majority for this historical moment.

For the past decade, thousands of young activists with Nextgen America have called on their members of Congress to take meaningful action on the climate crisis through calls, letters, and petitions. Yet time and again, their best hopes were dashed as deal after deal bit the dust.

Until now. Thanks to all of our efforts, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the people of Nevada will grow jobs that advance clean air and clean energy, and more families will be able to afford their prescription drugs. Below those big headlines, our national parks will be revived with long-overdue maintenance, and communities of color and underserved communities will benefit from robust environmental justice grants to clean up toxic hazards.

Certainly, this bill is far from perfect. For those of us who believe an end to fossil fuels is central to our survival, there are more carrots and loopholes for polluting industries than we would have hoped. But it’s nonetheless a substantial down payment on the transformative changes that young people, here and across the globe, have been clamoring for.

This unprecedented climate action legislation is something on which we can build, but only if we continue to grow youth engagement for the long haul. Our efforts in 2020, which elected President Biden and eked out majorities in Congress, made the Inflation Reduction Act possible. But this excruciating year of negotiations and the razor-thin edge of victory only emphasize that we have to deepen our commitments, our organizing skills, and our power in the political arena if we want to keep climate disaster and authoritarianism at bay.

Fueled by this timely breakthrough, we believe young people will once again defy expectations and show they’re up to the task. At Nextgen, we’re activating our base of 25,000 volunteers and hiring over 140 field organizers across the country to contact and mobilize over 9.6 million young voters in swing states like ours. In Nevada alone, we’re contacting over half a million young voters ahead of the election this November.

We want to ensure that good legislators like Sens. Cortez Masto and Rosen stay in office and that their ranks are expanded with allies who will fight for climate change in an equitable, multiracial democracy.

We know that our lives, the lives of our own children, and the fate of our planet depend on our determination and success. We don’t want to let them down.

FILE Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, left, and Jacky Rosen D-nev., both D-nev,, talk during the launch of the 100-megawatt MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array last year. Nevada’s senators played an important role in getting younger voters to participate in the 2020 election.